Corporate Profile

The company has its headquarters in Walksburg, Europe. It is one of the worlds largest car manufacturer.In 2010, it increased its customers to 7.2 million. In Europe one in five cars comes from Volkswagen.

Volkswagen means the People’s car in German. It’s slogan is Das Auto (the Car). Volkswagen is Europe’s largest automaker. It has a market share of over 20 per cent. In 2010, Volkswagen had a total global market share of 11.4 per cent and it is the third largest manufacturer behind GM and Toyota.

50 per cent of Volkswagen is held by Porsche Automobil Holdin, 2.37 per cent by Porsche Holding GmbH, 20.25 per cent by State of Lower Saxony, 10% miacellaneous, 17 % by the Emirate of Qatar.

From the first quarter of 2011 the Group operates 62 production plants in fifteen European countries and a further seven countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. Around the world, nearly 400,000 employees produce about 30,000 vehicles or are involved in vehicle-related services each working day. The Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries.

Company History

The company’s name was "Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH." This name was changed to Volkswagen AG in 1938. During the Second World War, Volkswagen production is switched to armanments. Some 20,000 workers work at the plant to produce armaments.

Volkswagen established a humanitarian fund. The British Military Government takes responsibility of the company. Volkswagen production of the Beetle has started.

Volkswagen Bully creates rising demand. In 1956, a separate manufacturing plant for the Transporter is established. The one millionth Volkswagen is produced - the Volkswagen Beetle.

In 1972, Volkswagen breaks world car production record with 15,007,034 units assembled. The Beetle goes ahead of the Ford Model T.

In 1973, the Volkswagen Passat goes into production.

Company Founder(s)

Volkswagen was founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade union. The German couldn’t afford anything except for a motorcycle. Bela Barenyi created the basic design in the middle 1920’s. Josef Ganz developed the Standard Superior. In 1933 when these projects were being developed, Adolf Hitler decided to sponsor a Volkswagen program. Hitler needed a basic vehicle for transporting two adults and three children and he called it a people’s car. Hitler started a new factory and named Ferdinand Porsche as the engineer who would design the new car. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche agreed to create the People’s car for Hitler in 1934.

Erwin Komenda developed the car that is known as the Beetle today. It is used in Germany since the 1920s. He helped design the bodies of VW Beetle and various Porsche sports cars. He was born in Weyes, in Upper Austria near Steyr. He worked as a car body designer in the Steyr factories. He met Ferdinand Porsche in 1929. He then managed most cases in Mercedes. He then became the chief engineer and leader of the Porsche cars. He developed the VW Beetle. Komeda also designed the Porsche 550 Spyder.

Company Milestones

1973: The Passat front wheel drive with four cylinder engine goes into production.

1974: The Golf goes into production. It becomes a hit and succeeds the Beetle. This year even the Scirocco goes into production until 1981.

1976: The Golf GTI comes out of production.

1983: Production of the second generation Golf begins. Robots are deployed for producing it.

1999: With the production launch of the Lupo 3L TDI, the first production car to offer fuel consumption of just three litres per 100 kilometres, in July 1999, Volkswagen once again makes automotive history.

2000: In August 2002, at Volkswagen Slovakia, a.s. in Bratislava, mass production of the Touareg, a luxury-class off-road vehicle, is started, marking the Volkswagen brand's move into an entirely new market segment. In December 2002 the "Auto 5000 GmbH" company, operating a plant at the Group's site in Wolfsburg, starts production of the Touran compact van. A special collective pay model has been developed, aimed at implementing lean production and involving flat hierarchies, team working, flexible working hours and the deployment of more process expertise by the workforce.

2003: Production of the fifth generation Golf starts.

Vision & Values

Volkswagen is not an entry level car manufacturer. They can modify their product for the local country that they are selling their product to. They can restructure their product to meet the demands of the local market. They have differentiated their product. They have an accessible car.

They give their cars a unique feature set. They have a large dealer network. Volkswagen has nice luxury cars but they don’t have good sporty cars. The service is really good.

The company also strives for excellence in manufacture of high quality cars and they believe in integrity, respect for people, teamwork, responsibility and autonomy, leadership skills, excellent professional qualifications and commitment to a common goal.

They are organized in work groups and believe in personal and professional development. They also have a philosophy of continuous training. They provide employees with a training center to develop their skills. They want to produce a product that is the “Best in Class.” They believe in luxury cars.

Management Team

Martin Winterkorn is the Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG. Dr. Francisco Garcia has the Functional Responsibility of Procurement. Dr. Jochem Heizmann has the responsibility for Group Commerical Vehicles. Christian Klinger is responsible for sales. Michael Macht is responsible for production, Horst Neumann is responsible for human resources, Hans Dieter Potsch is responsible for Finance and Controlling and Rupert Stadler is the Chairman of the Board.

Manufacturing Facilities

Since 2011 Vokswagen operates 62 production plants in fifteen European countries and a further seven countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. Around the world, nearly 400,000 employees produce about 30,000 vehicles or are involved in vehicle-related services each working day. The Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries. The company has a production plant located in Aurangabad in West India. This plant employs about 954 people and the cars that it produces are: Skoda Fabia, Skoda Octabia, Skoda Yeti, Volkswagwen Jetta, Vokswagen Passat, Audi A4, Audi A6 and Audi Q5.

Volkswagen also has a plant in Pune with 3,505 employees. The cars it produces are: Skoda Fabia, Volkswagen Polo and Volkswagen Vento.

Technology

The Direct Shift Gearbox technology is made up of two gearboxes. Clutch one serves the first gearbox unit with 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and reverse gear and clutch two the second gearbox unit with 2nd, 4th and 6th gear. This helps the car get more fuel efficiency.

The clutches and gearboxes are controlled by a combination of mechanics and electronics. This uses information such as the engine speed, the road speed, the accelerator position to set optimum gear.

When you want to park your car, you use the Park Assist Button and it will scan to see whether you have enough space or not to park. You can then stop the car, select reverse gear and let go of the steering wheel. It goes automatically into its space.

Awards & Recognition

Vokswagen has won the CNBC Overdrive Volkawagen Polo and Business Standard Motoring Award for the Polo. The Polo also won the Subros Car India Award. It also won the NDTV Car and Bike Award, Polo also won the Zigwheels award, the NDTV Car and Bike Award.

International Operations

Volkswagen has set up its global research and development operations in India which will make Volkswagen vehicles for all markets worldwide. There is a technical center in Pune for the same.

Volkswagen has global operations, but its primary market is Europe. Volkswagen Passenger Cars is its mainstream brand and its other brands include SEAT, Audi, Skoda, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Bentley, Scania and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The second largest market globally of Volkswagen is China, where Volkswagen Group China is the largest joint venture automaker selling more than one million vehicles in 2009. The Volkswagen Golf is the third largest selling automobile in the world. Volkswagen has also contributed to sports sponsorships. In 2011, Volkswagen and Porsche are expected to merge together.

Exports

Volkswagen is looking for partners in India to export its cars from here.

Future Plans

Volkswagen plans to make engines in India. The company will also manufacture a range of small cars in India. It already took out the Jetta Sedan and plans to introduce the Phaeton in India soon. It will also supply engines to foreign markets.

The company is also looking at local vendors to increase sales locally, maintain low costs in service.

Volkswagen will invest Rs. 2,400 crore in India and is also expected to set up a plant in Chakan in Maharasthra that will produce 1.1 lakh units of cars initially.

Volkswagen wants to increase its sales in India to one million cars by 2018. They plan to duplicate the success they had in China in India. The company will need to sell large volumes of cars to survive in India.

Volkswagen India is speaking to Suzuki Motors India to come up with an India specific Volkswagen car in the future. The two companies are also wanting to source small diesel engines as diesel cars are gaining popularity in India.

Our endeavor is to provide car buying consumers in India a one stop shop where they can do all their research about the latest cars in India. The Auto industry has been booming in recent times and we have moved to selling almost 2 million cars a year. The used car industry has been growing at an even faster pace.